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16 Feb 2015

Necrons - Unit Overview Part II

This is Report #362 my Lord. Your analysis has been implemented into our doctrines and we can now commit to further military efforts across the fallen kingdoms. Legion commanders display improved individual combat efficiency between 39 to 89 day cycles after reawakening. The reclamation process will continue. We reap the living in your name, my Lord. We are deathless and none can stand before us.

Before I begin with the individual unit reviews, I must stress one point that applies to all further articles in this series; these thoughts are based mostly on each units' place in a Combined Arms Detachment rather than as part of the many new formations or the unique Decurion Detachment. I will mention each units' buffs in these somewhat but I have elected to properly cover all of those in a separate article.HQs

Overlord - A 10 point decrease on the base price of the Necron Overlord coupled with the buffs to Reanimation Protocols and the improvement of his stats with both his Weapon Skill and Ballistic Skill increasing by one makes the already recommendable Overlord just far better when taken as just a cheap Warlord option. The lack of a 2+ armour save option outside of the one-per-army Nightmare Shroud is annoying as is the more expensive Warscythe, though at least the Phase Shifter is much cheaper to balance this out. Many staple equipment choices of the past like Mindshackle Scarabs and Resurrection Orbs can be skipped now, though Phylactery is such a good upgrade and basically takes their place. If you want a 2+ armoured Overlord with a 4+ invulnerable save and a Warscythe, the build is identical in price but loses out on the previous 3+ invulnerable save, AP1 on the Warscythe (it is now AP2) but gains a higher Weapon Skill and Ballistic Skill, causes Fear, has superior Reanimation Protocols and forces one enemy unit per game within 18" to take a morale test.

Overall, it's not that bad of a trade as the real star here is Reanimation Protocols acting as a second saving throw for every unsaved wound the Overlord takes, meaning that with his three wounds he can be almost impossible to kill in practice without Instant Death weapons. Weapon Skill 5 makes the Overlord a much better offensive character in combat and generally he has better defences anyway, so for the "standard build" I do rate the new one more as it doesn't need to rely as much on the gimmick that was the old Mindshackle Scarabs (though the loss of this does mean he can't face the deadlier melee combatants) - just take Phylactery instead and the total points investment is identical. The new Overlords are insane with Reanimation Protocols acting as super Feel No Pain because they won't have to rely on one lucky roll now, instead potentially stopping all of those unsaved wounds in the first place and just being stronger melee combatants overall. I prefer the new Overlords in terms of all available builds, but obviously the removal of Mindshackle Scarabs makes him a much less scary character in combat - seriously, players used to avoid charging Necron units with attached Lords or Overlords in the past just for fear of what the Mindshackle Scarabs would do - even if that option was absolutely broken and needed to be changed.Change? Weaker.Competitive? Yes.

Lord - While the extra wound and buff to Reanimation Protocols are highly appreciated changes, the removal of cheap 2+ armour save upgrades, general stifling of Resurrection Orbs and removal of Royal Court rules (though the Decurion Detachment addresses this concern) means they don't really have a place in a Necron force anymore outside of being cheap Overlord equivalents. The problem here is that the extra 30 points spent on an Overlord - Necron Lords got a lot more expensive in the new codex - is worth it in almost every scenario if you want the best value, most durable generic Warlord choice you can get. The reason people used these was to spread the tremendous buff that Resurrection Orbs provided to large infantry squads, while making for fairly nasty albeit expensive "sergeants" for units that otherwise were hugely susceptible to being swept in close combat. All of the aforementioned changes just leave Necron Lords incapable of fulfilling that role anymore - Crypteks or the Decurion Detachment are where it is at for spreading the reanimating love - and while strictly harder to kill without accounting for upgrades, their doubled base cost does them no favours as "sergeant" characters for Necron units that frankly don't need them nearly as much anymore. At the very least, the Lord is good if you want a less expensive mandatory HQ choice to lead your army but I still think spending 30 points just for the stat boosts on an Overlord is going to be worth it in almost every situation imaginable.Change? Weaker.Competitive? No.

Cryptek - As with the Necron Lord, a significant price increase coupled with a bonus Wound and the removal of the old Royal Court rules makes these worse as unit sergeants or adaptive counters, especially now that they have roughly a third of the equipment choices they used to have. To balance this out, Crypteks now have an insanely good ability that provides both itself and any unit it joins with a +1 bonus to their Reanimation Protocols, turning these into unit buffers rather than the Haywire-delivery models of the past. Unfortunately, their Technomancer special rule is rendered mostly worthless in a Decurion Detachment as units will have the maximum possible 4+ Reanimation Protocols roll anyway, though something to keep in mind is that an attached Cryptek will let them keep that 4+ roll against attacks that cause Instant Death. The other primary use of a Cryptek is the Chronometron, an immensely valuable and seemingly under-priced wargear choice that provides an entire unit with a 5+ invulnerable save against ranged attacks. This is seemingly purpose-built with Warscythe Lychguard in mind, though really any unit gets some massive benefits from an attached Cryptek with a Chronometron. I feel that these are better than they were in the context of a standard Combined Arms detachment - they aren't that worthwhile in a Decurion Detachment because the best reason to use them is provided for free by the detachment rules - as they make Necron units virtually impossible to shift without opponents dedicating ridiculous amounts of firepower into them, even though the removal of Voltaic Staff spam makes Night Scythe drops less appealing.Change? Stronger.Competitive? Yes.

Destroyer Lord - Much like the Overlord, the Destroyer Lord received a handy points decrease and a major passive buff with the change to Reanimation Protocols, even though his wargear options are more restricted or generally not as good to compensate. The inability to take Mindshackle Scarabs and a cheap 2+ armour save hurts a lot, while the increased cost of the Warscythe makes him functionally only 5 points cheaper when taken with just the iconic melee weapon. Despite all this, I consider him to be more survivable overall as those three Toughness 6 wounds with potential It Will Not Die become insanely difficult to remove when the Destroyer Lord has a 5+ or potentially 4+ Reanimation Protocol roll that he can make for every single unsaved wound he suffers. Basically, he is a better wound-tank than ever before in practice despite costing quite a bit more when equipped with a 2+ armour save, while his actual damage-dealing capabilities are unchanged - unless you really want to stress that a Warscythe is now AP2 instead of AP1.

Of course, the main change to a Destroyer Lord - and to all Destroyers by extension - is that he is Jet Pack Infantry rather than Jump Infantry now, proving to be both a buff and a nerf depending on the circumstances. Being able to Jump-Shoot-Jump doesn't really help a melee-centric character, obviously, but theoretically he moves more both at maximum and on average in a single player turn than previously; as Jump Infantry, it was 12" plus D6" (Run move), now as Jet Pack Infantry is it 6" plus D6" (Run move) plus 2D6" (Jet Pack move). However, he is worse when it actually comes to launching assaults as he only gets to move 6" on the turn he wants to launch an assault and doesn't get the benefit of Fleet for moving that slow. Overall, it's basically a wash as far as the Destroyer Lord is concerned and as such I consider it a "nerf" only because it means he now slows Wraiths - his prior bodyguards of choice - down heavily. Still, he works well for providing Preferred Enemy to any unit of Necrons he joins and acting as a tremendously tough Warlord option that can protect units in combat. I will say these are weaker overall only because they no longer have an easy choice when it comes to assault squad bodyguards, though they are so much better for surviving pretty much anything that gets thrown at them.Change? Weaker.Competitive? Yes.

Nemesor Zahndrekh - Of all the HQ choices in 7th Edition, this is by far my favourite even if it might not necessarily be the best. Nemesor Zahndrekh is the Warlord of choice for players that love adaptability and have both the knowledge and skill to exploit the huge array of potential abilities he can bring to a match. Before we get into that though, let me cover the basics; Zahndrekh saw a hefty price reduction of 35 points and functions just like a standard Overlord, meaning he also now has Weapon Skill 5 and Ballistic Skill 5 as part of his repertoire. He differs from most characters by having a 2+ armour save natively as well as a 4+ invulnerable save from his Phase Shifter, though he isn't really suited to close combat with a Staff of Light being his weapon of choice. When you consider how expensive a 2+ armour save is for Overlords, Zahndrekh gets a ridiculous number of extra rules almost for free - much like his previous incarnation - and it is obvious that the rule designers just love the idea of a tactical genius that makes Creed look on with envy. Zahndrekh's guaranteed Warlord Trait, Eternal Madness, provides him with the Zealot special rule which means he further confers Fearless and Hatred to his unit. He's a decent melee character in that sense as he is still Strength 5 with 3 Attacks, but the main draw is undoubtedly Fearless seeing as morale is possibly the only real army-wide weakness of Necrons with Leadership 10 being the only trait to make up for the lack of And They Shall Know No Fear, Fearless or Stubborn.

His previous versions of Adaptive Tactics and Counter Tactics have been combined into the new Counter Tactics, instead just giving himself and his unit one or more of the same set of special rules as long as a unit or units within 24" have those listed special rules. Potentially gaining anything from Stealth to Tank Hunters is pretty darned handy for any Gauss-carrying Necron unit, though I must admit being unable to steal them is a bit of a downer - keep in mind though that Zahndrekh's unit can now potentially benefit from all of those rules rather than just one at a time which is pretty handy in some cases. However, the truly awesome aspect of the Nemesors' rules are undoubtedly his Adaptive Tactics, allowing him to freely swap out his (already good) Warlord Trait each turn and pick a single Warlord Trait to replace it from any of the rulebook or Necron charts. You read that right; per the codex, no roll is required to determine which trait he gets when he swaps his current one out, and he can pick from up to five different charts. The only downside is that you can't pick the same trait twice which can lead to some amusing situations - swapping out his native Eternal Madness trait a few turns before his unit is assaulted could be disastrous - but it is this kind of required foresight that truly makes Zahndrekh the thinking mans' Warlord choice.

Here are some examples of situations where this can just be insane if used correctly; gaining Eternal Warrior when your opponent diverts Strength 10 shooting or Force Weapons to getting that Slay the Warlord victory point; if you play a Maelstrom mission and draw a Secure Objective card, he can take the Warlord Trait that provides him and his unit with a bonus victory point for capturing that objective; he can let all friendly units within 12" re-roll to-hit rolls of a 1 once most of your shooting is in range; he can give your entire army Stealth (Ruins) once your army starts moving through that terrain type; you can re-roll failed reserve rolls from turn two onwards, and so on and so forth. While none of the buffs are outstanding in general, each of them can be game-changing in specific scenarios and knowing when to swap them out and what to pick is absolutely crucial to making full use of Nemesor Zahndrekh. While he no longer brings units out of reserve on the enemy turn, overall I find he is harder to kill (especially in a Decurion Detachment or with an attached Cryptek), slightly better in combat, even more versatile and much cheaper to boot. While not being able to guarantee that you can give any particular unit Tank Hunters or what hurts his competitive usage somewhat, I still think he is a fantastic choice and his new Adaptive Tactics can be ridiculous in the right hands.Change? Stronger.Competitive? Yes.

Vargard Obyron - I'm fairly divided on this character as I used to religiously use him with my previous Necron army and it is difficult to really say whether he is better or worse than before. He disappointingly lost a Wound to make him more adherent to the fluff where he is essentially just a Lord, a bodyguard, though it means the Reanimation Protocol buff doesn't affect him nearly as much as it does for three wound characters. His profile is otherwise unchanged, though he is now a whopping 40 points cheaper than he used to be; one must also consider that he is still harder to kill in combat than he was in 5th Edition with the changes to power weapons and the new Necrons' "super Feel No Pain". In that sense, he is tougher in 7th Edition when compared against the old codex in a 5th Edition context, but that third wound is still a big loss and sometimes a worse trade in certain situations. For damage output, he is identical with the same three Attacks at Strength 7 AP2 and Armourbane, while his Cleaving Counterblow rule is mostly unchanged and can thus see him end up with a ridiculous amount of bonus attacks - the important thing to note here is that there is now no limit to the number of bonus attacks he can get. However, the rule is also worse in general as it now only applies in challenges meaning less Attacks and thus chances to activate the rule are present. In practice, however, one has to consider how many Attacks would normally have been allocated to Obyron anyway, especially as most opponents aren't stupid and know what he is capable of. In that sense, I don't really see a change there and haven't noticed any real difference in games save for when he faces a non-character monstrous creature or other units that actively want to attack him instead of his unit.

His Vargard's Duty no longer forces him to teleport to Zahndrekh's position when the Nemesor is charged, though it does allow him to jump into challenges whenever you need him to by automatically passing Initiative tests to perform a Glorious Intervention. While freely teleporting to Zahndrekh at any given unit was nice, a smart opponent could exploit this by pulling Obyron away from his unit of choice and thus whatever target he was stalking, so I don't really consider this too much of a bad change. That aside, the one undoubtedly negative tweak to Obyron outside of losing a Wound is that his Ghostwalk Mantle functions the same but now only works once a game rather than having unlimited uses, though I guess this is probably fair enough as that ability would have been potentially game-breaking when combined with the super-durable Decurion Detachment units and Maelstrom of War missions. It is still a great piece of equipment because it gives you that added tactical flexibility to give any single unit or just Obyron himself an inaccurate, unlimited range move that can allow you to threaten previously safe units, get a squad out of danger or jump onto an uncontested objective - an ability that is so darned awesome in Maelstrom missions. He still lands directly on target when performing his Deep Strike within 12" of Zahndrekh, but seeing as the Nemesor can no longer take a Command Barge this particular aspect of the rule isn't nearly as prominent as it was. The result of all these changes leaves me stumped in regards to the final judgement; he is slightly worse in combat, less survivable overall outside of a Decurion Detachment, his abilities are far more restricted and he has less synergy with Zahndrekh than before. To counter this, he is significantly cheaper and his actual in-game performance hasn't changed too much in most match-ups, honestly. As a result, I'm shockingly going to surprise myself and say he is better than before only because of how much cheaper he is while - for the most part - functioning just as he used to in the aspects that people actually took him for; combat, durability and the optional teleport that some players used only once per game anyway.Change? Stronger.Competitive? Yes.

Illuminor Szeras - Of all the special characters in the Necron codex, I feel Illuminor Szeras is definitely the most improved considering how rarely - if ever - he was used with his previous rules. Increasing his points cost by 10 is immediately justified by his preset Warlord Trait Immortal Hubris, allowing himself and all friendly Necrons within 12" to re-roll all failed Leadership-based tests which is pretty insane for an army with universal Leadership 10. He doesn't provide his unit with defensive grenades while both his stats and Mechanical Augmentation special rule are identical, but otherwise Szeras sees positives across the board. His Eldritch Lance has gained the Lance special rule, making it the mobile equivalent of a Dark Lance from the Dark Eldar codex, while he provides the same bonus to Reanimation Protocols that Crypteks share to all units within 6" rather than just his own. If you run concentrated forces of Necron Warriors or other "core" units, Szeras is an obvious choice as the stat boosts he himself has, his nasty ranged weapon, the very handy preset Warlord Trait and the free stat boost he provides one friendly unit of Warriors or Immortals make him a highly valuable addition to a Necron army. That he gained two awesome new abilities and only went up a mere 10 points in cost is all the reason one needs to field him, honestly; as a fun side note, he is decent in combat too with five Strength 4 attacks and the charge while causing Fear.Change? Stronger.Competitive? Yes.

Orikan the Diviner - This special character never really had much favour (outside of the Writhing Worldscape cheese build in 5th Edition) considering how incredibly luck reliant he was while being overly expensive considering his abilities, issues that the new codex takes important steps towards fixing. Both his standard and empowered profiles are identical to their prior incarnations, while he retains his Phase Shifter - now a 4+ invulnerable save instead of a 3+ invulnerable save - and AP2 close combat weapon that strikes at Initiative order. He still re-rolls all failed to-hit rolls in close combat which makes him one heck of a melee beat-stick once he is empowered, though otherwise the changes are heavily apparent throughout the rest of his rules. He has lost two of his unique special rules, meaning he no longer lets you re-roll failed reserve rolls for one turn and nor does he force enemy units to move through difficult terrain on the first game turn, while his Exile Ray has also been removed. However, he is strictly better everywhere else; he has gained Eternal Warrior which makes his empowered profile that much more difficult to deal with, and he has an improved version of the Chronomancer rule that Crypteks possess by allowing himself and his unit to benefit from a 4+ Reanimation Protocols roll in addition to re-rolling saving throw results of a 1 - made ridiculous by joining Lychguard with their 3+ invulnerable saves.

These alone are some pretty massive buffs to the diviner provided you aren't using him in a Decurion Detachment that renders his +1 bonus to Reanimation Protocols mostly pointless, but that is before considering that he is permanently empowered once he successfully makes the required roll. This is in contrast to his previous version that would quickly "power down" after becoming empowered, though there is now slightly less chance of it happening seeing as you now need to roll below the turn number rather than passing if you rolled below or equal to the turn number. The new Reanimation Protocols is also somewhat ridiculous on Orikan and especially so if he becomes empowered early into a game, seeing as it is essentially a superior 4+ Feel No Pain roll on a Toughness 7 model that has a 4+ invulnerable save. While Orikan is still luck reliant in regards to his main special ability and has lost quite a few rules, he received a massive 45 points price reduction and will be permanently empowered once the roll is successful rather than potentially "powering down" afterwards, while adding Eternal Warrior on top of his already potent melee capabilities makes him a truly nasty melee combatant. That is before one factors in his Master Chronomancer special rule that provides a significant defensive boost to whatever unit he joins, guaranteeing Orikan's place in many competitive lists; he is extremely nasty when empowered (especially as he remains an Independent Character) and a great support character otherwise, making him a good all-rounder at an acceptable points cost.Change? Stronger.Competitive? Yes.

Anrakyr the Traveller - Despite having an awesome background and generally being truly frightening in regards to what he is capable of, the significant tweaks made to most of the other special characters has me wondering why Anrakyr received barely any changes. He is still a close-combat oriented Necron Overlord that freely doles out both Counter Attack and Furious Charge to himself and a single unit of Immortals, providing him with four Strength 8 AP2 attacks on the charge that make him a potent character assassin. He still bears the unusual pairing of a Tachyon Arrow and a Warscythe, while he maintains the ability to "take over" enemy vehicles. He has received some nice buffs with a tiny but still welcome 5 point decrease, increased Weapon Skill and Ballistic Skill in line with the new Overlords and the addition of a preset Warlord Trait that gives him and every friendly Necron unit within 12" both the Crusader and Relentless special rules. Being Weapon Skill 5 and Ballistic Skill 5 make his damage output that much better with his one-use-only Tachyon Arrow being far more reliable. That he is Weapon Skill 5 and provides those aforementioned special rules to all Necrons close to him finally give him a reason for existence and don't make his Pyrrhian Immortals seem so out of place; if you want a close combat-oriented Decurion Detachment list then Anrakyr seems like a safe bet to lead your mandatory Reclamation Legion. Otherwise, I'm sure most players will just stick to their Wraith squads or adapt the significantly cheaper Lychguard to their lists among other proper dedicated assault units.

The previous reason to use Anrakyr was his Mind in the Machine rule, allowing him to "possess" a vehicle on the roll of a 3+ in Anrakyrs' shooting phase and shoot all of its guns while ignoring any Crew Shaken or Crew Stunned results that vehicle had suffered. While Anrakyr in general is obviously superior in the new codex, this particular rule is definitely not what it used to be; it now only affects a vehicle within 12", works on a 4+ instead of a 3+ and randomly fires just one weapon instead of the vehicles' full complement of guns while letting both Crew Shaken and Crew Stunned results potentially affect it. It is so unreliable and unlikely to really do anything in practice now, especially when one considers it often did little in 5th Edition because the vehicle would often be facing towards the Necron army once the 18" range was accounted for. I do think Anrakyr is a better Warlord choice for Necrons now - especially with the Reanimation Protocols change - and not so reliant on one gimmicky special rule, but his Mind in the Machine rule is just too random now for it to really warrant true praise. As to whether Anrakyr is actually worth it now (he wasn't before), that is an easy one; he pays 35 points over an identically equipped Overlord for a decent preset Warlord Trait that is rendered mostly pointless by a Reclamation Legion, a hilariously situational unique special rule, some added but not really noteworthy combat punch and generally unnecessary buffs to a single unit of Immortals. His overall wargear selection is poor and the Core choice Reclamation Legion eliminates one of his only real advantages over an Overlord. He's decent if you build an army around him, but ultimately his abilities synergize best with units he can't keep up with and those abilities really aren't anything special unlike Orikans' or Zahndrekhs'. He's decent but ultimately not really worth it with all the other awesome special characters available.Change? Stronger.Competitive? No.

Trazyn the Infinite - The HQ choice everyone employed when they wanted to "troll" their opponents or otherwise cause some hilarity in matches, Trazyn lost some of his unique luster with the 7th Edition core rule changes but he is doubtless superior in the new codex, all things considered. While he is no longer the only scoring HQ choice in the Necron codex as all units are scoring per the 7th Edition rulebook, he's received a boost to his Weapon Skill and Ballistic Skill while also receiving a substantial 45 point decrease. His Empathic Obliterator is massively buffed in that it now functions as a power maul - thus, Trazyn has four Strength 7 AP4 attacks on the charge - and "explodes" if he kills a character in a challenge, inflicting a Strength 4 AP- hit on all models within 6" that have the same faction as the slain challenger. Trazyn is thus easily capable of destroying entire enemy units as he is durable enough to survive most enemy characters' attacks, then smash them to pieces with his Weapon Skill 5 Strength 7 AP4 attacks and cause and subsequently cause an "explosion". He might not provide Relentless anymore and nor does he possess the old Mindshackle Scarabs, but overall Trazyn is definitely superior in terms of melee prowess and even survivability; on that note, the addition of Eternal Warrior makes perfect sense for the self-titled "Infinite".

While his Surrogate Hosts rule no longer allows him to replace significantly cheaper Lychguard models, it is pretty ridiculous with the new Reanimation Protocols and especially considering Trazyn is an Eternal Warrior; he is as durable as a standard and hugely tough Overlord, but is immune to Instant Death and gets to replace a friendly character model on the roll of a 2+ each time he dies, returning with D3 Wounds. This does force you to take other characters in the army but seeing as Crypteks are such high value choices for non Decurion Detachment lists, players will often get a lot of mileage out of Trazyn even if he is more of a "selfish" character that doesn't really buff your army in any meaningful way. While he is definitely better now, I'm not quite sure whether he ranks as a competitive choice next to someone like Orikan the Diviner or a generic Overlord given that one needs to spent lots of points on other characters to make the most of his abilities. He is inferior in close combat to Overlords armed with a Warscythe and is thus only worthwhile if you absolutely must protect that Slay the Warlord victory point at any cost, even though you are probably better off taking the risk and using a different HQ choice that provides tangible buffs to friendly Necron forces.Change? Stronger.Competitive? No.

Catacomb Command Barge - I would love to rate this as superior to its previous incarnation as it is undoubtedly more of a buffer than it used to be and is significantly less expensive, one cannot deny how ludicrous these were before the new codex released. Chariots received some insane buffs in 7th Edition and this still applies to the Command Barge, even if the new codex removed the majority of unique rules that made it an utterly over-the-top choice; instead, I see it now as a good or even great rather than over-powered unit, as it should be. There are just too many changes for me to cover without almost doubling the length of an already overly long article and so I will instead focus on relating to others why I feel the Command Barge still has a competitive place in the Necron codex. An Overlord can take a Command Barge for a seemingly paltry 55 points, providing him with a three hull point chariot that has AV 13/13/11, is a Fast Skimmer (an advantage of the new codex version) and giving him a 12" radius of re-rolling failed morale, pinning and fear tests for friendly units. It's great for its points and complements the insanely durable Overlord perfectly, the only upgrade one definitely needs being a Warscythe - however, the Nightmare Shroud and Phase Shifter do greatly benefit the unit. I consider it a good mobile unit that can dish out a lot of hurt and is very tough to put down, making it a fundamentally ideal assault unit that fulfills a mandatory HQ slot, provides a very nice support buff and can even be the army Warlord.Change? Weaker.Competitive? Yes.

The living have failed to slow our progress since Day 12 of your awakening, my Lord. Our commanders relish the chance to seek honour in your name. Our legions shall cleanse the stars themselves of life so that the Great Enemy can feed no more. Review our efforts, my Lord, and advise us accordingly.

1 comment:

I've been on a 40k hiatus since the tail end of 5th and am strongly considering picking up Necrons. Would love to see an article on the changes On the CCB if you're willing to spill some more ink. Thanks for the great articles so far. Looking forward to the rest